Reply by shopdog

I just thought it was a given that you set the chisel square to your jig. One thing I didn’t mention is that once I have a chisel tuned, the next time I sharpen, I always do this first…I take a black sharpie, and blacken the entire bevel. Then I lock it in the jig, where I like it. I can approximate the position by using a square, and placing it on a flat surface to see if the bevel sits right…flat. You never get it right the first time. That’s where the blackened edge helps. I run the setup over my finest sandpaper, and look at the bevel to see where the black ink was removed…then adjust, and do it again, until the ink comes off uniformly over the entire bevel…then I well tighten the chisel onto the jig.If your chisel isn’t square to the jig, you can still get a scary sharp chisel…only it’ll now be a skew chisel.

grits…if I need to start with 80…I then move to 120, 220, 400 up to whatever.

How long I spend on any grit would depend on how much stroking the chisel needs. There is no formula, but if you want a great tool, you need to stroke it right :-) You can’t rush. I have a bit of OCD, and I find myself counting things sometimes. It’s not necessary. With a bit of experience, you’ll know. I like sharpening, because the results justify the means. Most people don’t, so they have dull chisels that they only use as beaters.

Todd,Those Buck chisels that they sell at the Borg are garbage (not to be mistaken for Buck Bros of years past). As a contractor, you can probably get along with stinking sharp Buck chisels. From what I see of the projects that are built by the members here, they probably want, need, and deserve more.